This article has been everywhere so I wanted to post it here for discussion with smart fashion people (and not just other bloggers pimping their own blogs in the comments section!). Danielle comes off as severely unlikable and I don't know why any company would want to work with her, especially since it's pretty common knowledge that she Photoshops her images and buys her followers

"I have an idea if you're open to it," Danielle Bernstein, 22, a personal style blogger who runs We Wore What, wrote me recently.

I'd emailed Bernstein to ask if she'd be open to explaining the business of bloggers being paid by brands to feature their products on Instagram. Most people are probably aware this is going on as they flick through their feeds (#spon), but the money and business practices behind it are inconsistent—and often obscured.

She proposed she'd take me through how she makes money from Instagram, as long as she was the only blogger in the piece. "It's super important who I associate myself with in this industry," she says. "It's not that I don't like other people, but there are some other bloggers that it's random seeming to associate myself with."

Bernstein has 992,000 followers on her Instagram @weworewhat. When she gets to a million, which she predicts will happen in the next 10 to 15 days, she can charge "a good amount more" for sponsored content. "It's a big milestone," she says.

Right now, Bernstein's rate card, through Next Models, sets her range for the cost of a single piece of sponsored content (i.e. one Instagram shot) from $5,000 to $15,000. This rate can go up or down, depending the terms of the deal, such as if a brand wants a long-term commitment or multiple Instagram pictures. "Everything's negotiable," Bernstein says, laughing. "I'm Jewish."

According to experts who spend a significant portion of their days figuring out how brands and so-called creators can play together nicely on Instagram, we're at some kind of mid-point. There are still plenty of products sent out gratis to bloggers with fingers crossed that they'll throw a picture of themselves online using it. Bernstein does this, too, albeit selectively. Milly recently send her an electric blue bag that was too bright for her taste. Bernstein wrote back, "I love this bag, but do you have it in black?"

But there's also just as much contracted—often agent-negotiated—work where the blogger agrees to feature the brand in a certain number of Instagrams, often promising not to put any competitors in the same shot (or even hold off mentioning them for a week or so). Industry estimates say brands spend more than a $1 billion per year on sponsored Instagram posts. Particularly in fashion, "there's a rapidly developing economy on Instagram," says Thomas Rankin, co-founder and CEO of Dash Hudson, a program that lets you make your Instagram posts shoppable. Instagram founder Kevin Systrom even went to Paris Fashion Week, attending Jean Paul Gaultier's couture salon and meeting with Karl Lagerfeld and Louis Vuitton's Nicholas Ghesquière, to learn more about the style bloggers, models, editors, designers, and clothing brands who create such a large portion of content on the photo-sharing site.

Recently, Bernstein's done Instagram-only work for Lancôme and Virgin Hotels. Lancôme had her feature its new foundation, Miracle Cushion, in a picture of her morning routine and as part of her on-the-go makeup bag. For Virgin Hotels, she posed at the opening of the one in Chicago with Virgin's owner Richard Branson. "Last year was definitely my most profitable," she says. "I hate talking about money, but let's just say it's more than I could have ever imagined as a 22 year old. I fully support myself, and it's in the mid-six figures. I save, I invest, I'm trying to be smart about it all and learn as I go."

Bernstein is at the top end of this new Instagram economy, but it's one with a big income gap. On average, if you have hundreds of thousands of followers you can make anywhere from $500 to $5,000 a post, but if you have upwards of 6 million followers, your fee can be $20,000 to $100,000 a shot. "Which is kind of crazy," Rankin says.

Part of what makes the idea crazy that bloggers would be paid five figures for a picture of them doing something like sitting on their couch is that it just looks so casual—which is, of course, the point. Indeed, when Bernstein worked on a campaign for Project Runway, part of her well-paid contracted work was posting pictures of herself sitting on her couch. "I'd say I was watching the show," she says.

In fact, when Rankin approves blogger's Instagrams before they're posted on behalf of a brand, the only negative feedback he gives if he thinks something looks too posed. "It's not an editorial photo," he says. "We're not trying to be in a magazine. We're trying to create a moment."

I wouldn't say she comes off as unlikable herself, but the whole idea of getting paid that much for an instagram picture and getting free stuff and this desperation of elite formidable brands seemingly pandering to these low common denominators...that's what's unlikable. I don't dislike her, I dislike the idea of that business and the brands using it.

How does one actually buy followers? I'm asking this because when I think of this strategy, I think of spam accounts, not real engaging people. When I read that someone most likely bought their followers, I wonder about the stability of their count because looking at her page, it's not mind blowing content. It's not even aspirational.

I understand that sponsored posts should lean towards a more natural and organic side but what's the return on that investment on behalf of the company if the followers were bought? This chick has over 1 million followers yet her comments don't even make it to 500, nor her likes make it to 20k. That's cray to me.

Another thing that's crazy is her "prediction" that she will surpass a million within a matter of days.

How does one actually buy followers? I'm asking this because when I think of this strategy, I think of spam accounts, not real engaging people. When I read that someone most likely bought their followers, I wonder about the stability of their count because looking at her page, it's not mind blowing content. It's not even aspirational.

I understand that sponsored posts should lean towards a more natural and organic side but what's the return on that investment on behalf of the company if the followers were bought? This chick has over 1 million followers yet her comments don't even make it to 500, nor her likes make it to 20k. That's cray to me.

Another thing that's crazy is her "prediction" that she will surpass a million within a matter of days.

There are a million places on the internet where you can pay for followers and from what I understand, they aren't always bot accounts, but real people who get paid to follow. High numbers of followers from countries like India and the Philippines usually indicate fakes. But you're right, her engagement rate is really low. Another thing I understand is that the brands don't really look at metrics like that, only the total number of followers. But just by virtue that this Harper's Bazaar article was picked up everywhere, I can see how her followers jumped to over 1mil after the article was published.

*edit - please no weight discussion

Last edited by lucy92; 27-05-2015 at 12:29 PM.
Reason: no weight discussion

There are a million places on the internet where you can pay for followers and from what I understand, they aren't always bot accounts, but real people who get paid to follow. High numbers of followers from countries like India and the Philippines usually indicate fakes. But you're right, her engagement rate is really low. Another thing I understand is that the brands don't really look at metrics like that, only the total number of followers. But just by virtue that this Harper's Bazaar article was picked up everywhere, I can see how her followers jumped to over 1mil after the article was published.

*edit - please no weight discussion

Oh I see. I'm completely ignorant when it comes to that part of Instagram. This definitely explains a lot.